The Legend of Zelda III
The Legend of Zelda III is the working title of an upcoming entry in The Legend of Zelda series slated to release in Holiday 2016 that serves as an indirect sequel to both the original The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The game serves as a tribute to the original NES classics and as the flagship game for the series's thirtieth anniversary. Story Link awakens from a deep slumber by an Old Man who leads him to discover a radically different Hyrule where nature and technology are in sync with each other. Link discovers in this Hyrule, all three Triforce pieces have been split once more with each piece split into many smaller fragments scattered throughout the land, throwing the kingdom of Hyrule in unbalance and chaos. Additionally, the same Ganon and Princess Zelda that Link remembers are present throughout this Hyrule and are seeking the Triforce fragments for their own purpose. Gameplay Overview The Legend of Zelda III incorporates the traditional 2D gameplay that games such as the original The Legend of Zelda and A Link Between Worlds. The game will feature several mechanics that will be seen in the upcoming game, Breath of the Wild in order to give players a sense of what will come in the next installment in the series. Additionally, the game incorporates features from the recent remakes such as Ocarina of Time 3D and The Wind Waker HD that will help the game flow as quickly as possible. When using both the TV and the Wii U GamePad, almost all of the gameplay HUD will be moved to the touchscreen on the Wii U GamePad which leaves the TV virtually completely clear sans occasional on-screen prompts. The touchscreen provides a complete overview of Link's inventory including all of his weapons, shields, clothing, food, and maps among other items. The A button controls basic commands such as talking. The B button is used for sprinting. Shaking the Wii U GamePad while sprinting will cause Link to do a roll attack. Melee weapons are designated to the Y button and can be thrown using the R button. The X button will make Link jump and can latch him on to climbable surfaces. Special weapons such as bombs are designated to the L button. The ZL button will raise Link's shield while the ZR button uses Link's bow. The left stick controls Link's movement and when clicking the left stick, Link can crouch. The right stick controls camera angles. When playing on Off-TV Mode, the touchscreen will feature the actual game with Hearts, current item, and occasionally Rupees being displayed. ''Breath of the Wild''-esque gameplay mechanics As The Legend of Zelda III will release on Wii U prior to the release of Breath of the Wild, this game will preview some of the upcoming game's features. For instance, there are different melee weapons Link can use in place of a sword with a lot of them featuring many variations in play style. There are many different shields, bows, arrows, and clothing which have varying effects depending on Link's situation. Almost all of the items have a hidden durability gauge that depletes every time an item's used before it breaks. However, Runes in Breath of the Wild are replaced with traditional items such as the bombs from past games. Like the melee weapons, shields, bows, and arrows, there are many variants of items such as bombs and the boomerang with a lot of them also having a durability gauge. Melee weapons, shields, bows, arrows, clothing, and other items that don't have a durability gauge are the definitive and ultimate versions of each item such as the Master Sword and Hylian Shield being the definitive sword and shield with all of these items being extremely difficult to find. Like in Breath of the Wild, Link will be able to use a Paraglider to glide off from high points by jumping using the X button and then pressing the X button to activate it. Link can also Shield Surfe by jumping and then pressing the A button for Link to jump on the shield. Additionally, he can also climb walls. When climbing walls, the camera will switch to a pseudo side-scoller position, mimicking the wall-merging ability seen in A Link Between Worlds. Randomized story scenarios Due to the nature of the setting and storyline of this game, The Legend of Zelda III is unique compared to other entries in the series. Each Triforce piece is split up into thirteen fragments, meaning that there will be thirty-nine Triforce fragments to obtain. Because Hyrule is such a huge land compared to other games, the locations of where any of these fragments are randomized, albeit they will always be located at major points of interest. As such, it would mean that a lot of the places, characters, and events in the game can differ in importance depending on each save file. Additionally, the game also includes pseudo real-time activity as when Link traverses the kingdom of Hyrule, so will Princess Zelda and Ganon as they are both also seeking out the Triforce fragments on their own. Both Princess Zelda and Ganon move around Hyrule every time Link obtains a Triforce fragment. Both of their movements are not set in stone and also randomized meaning that Link can encounter both Princess Zelda and Ganon randomly throughout the game. Depending on Link's situation and location, each encounter can range from being a very minor sighting to a very major event. No matter each play file though, the very beginning and very end of the game will always be the same. Second Quest Once the game has been completed for the first time, a Second Quest will be offered for players to try. However as a major departure from other Second Quests and similar modes, the Second Quest in The Legend of Zelda III acts as both an epilogue and sequel to the main story. In the Second Quest, Link finds various portals throughout Hyrule that leads to an alternate dimension named Lorule in which the kingdom of Lorule faces a similar crisis to Hyrule's in the main story. Characters such as Ravio, Princess Hilda, and Yuga will appear in the Second Quest as well. Game information Timeline placement The Legend of Zelda III serves as an indirect sequel to both the original The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link as the game takes place many generations after The Adventure of Link. The original Link, Princess Zelda, and Ganon from the first game, however, appear as the main characters in this game, along with several other characters from the first two games as supporting characters. Setting The Legend of Zelda III takes place in a grandioisly large version of the kingdom of Hyrule where nature and technology co-exist. Hyrule's size is theoritically larger than the map used in The Adventure of Link, spanning three provinces that include the Faron, Eldin, and Lanayru provinces that encompass roughly 117 regions with each province getting 39 each; each region is distinct from each other all in terms of weather, landscape, and theming and/or culture. The Second Quest also gives a glimpse of the kingdom of Lorule, providing 39 regions to explore, the same amount of regions a Hyrule province has. Audio Similar to Skyward Sword, Tri Force Heroes, and Breath of the Wild, the in-game music will use live instrumental tracks with composer Koji Kondo to compose all the new music compostions with Mahito Yokota to assist with the arrangements of both the new and returning compositions. Additionally as a nod to both the game being a tribute to the first two games and the depiction of Hyrule this time, several tracks will also include NES-style chiptunes as instruments. Visuals The Legend of Zelda III's visuals are similar towards A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes, though the game is built graphically from the ground up and polished to run on 1080p in 60 frames per second with a lot of light and shadow filters and effects that will give the visuals more dynamic looks than its predecessors. Like A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes, the game will mainly use a very vibrant color palette, but like the first two games, it will also use tons of other gradiants and color palettes too to help reflect the mood of various events and cutscenes within the game. The game's artwork is directed by Satoru Takizawa, who has done artwork for Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild. The artwork for this game depicts characters in the styles of the first two games in an art style that combines both art styles of Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild. Listings Confirmed characters * Link * Princess Zelda * Ganon * Old Man * Ravio (Second Quest) * Princess Hilda (Second Quest) * Yuga (Second Quest) Confirmed items Melee weapons * Master Sword Shields * Hylian Shield Important items * Triforce fragments * Paraglider Category:Pages by Bowser & Jr. Category:Projects Category:Video Games Category:The Legend of Zelda